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I believe from what I learn from missionaries, as well as from what I see, that Christians at home, overrate those obstacles in the way of the conversion of the heathen, which arise simply from their love to their old religions, and that the great and real difficulty is precisely the same as at home; the opposition of the natural heart; that carnal mind which is enmity towards God.

We spent Thursday 14th inst. in a very pleasant and profitable manner. We went with the older Brother to Batticotta, to be introduced to the students in the Seminary, now one hundred and forty. They were all seated on mats in Ottley hall, on the floor, in the native manner. They are dressed in a white cloth, wrapped round the waist, and descending about to the knee. Besides this, many have a loose cloth which is worn at pleasure over the shoulder like a long shawl, or wound round the loins over the other, or sometimes round the head as a turban. Their heads are bare, and their long, black, glossy hair is twisted up in a knot, on one side of the front part of the head, or sometimes behind. The feet and legs are always bare, except that they have a kind of sandal which some wear, but they always leave them at the door of the house, and if they meet in the road a man whom they wish to honor, they get down from their shoes, and stand on the ground.

Nov. 25th. The church at this station is under the care of Brother Hoisington, who may very probably remain here, for some time at least, as he is a printer, and the press is here. The schools are my department. They are, perhaps, as flourishing here, as at any station, and we have a large number of girls. Last Sabbath, one hundred and twelve girls, and two hundred and sixty-eight boys were at Sabbath school, which meets from half past eight, to half past nine; and yesterday, we had one hundred and forty-five girls, and two hundred and sixty-five boys, besides a boy's school that came in late. The school masters bring their scholars in a body, and as they come, they are distributed into classes-first, second, third, &c. according to their attainments. They do well.

Time presses; although it is very probable that I shall be elsewhere before your letter arrives, (perhaps on the continent,) please direct to me here. Thin paper is best, as postage is by weight.

Yours in Christian love,

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INSANITY.

"INACTIVITY OF INTELLECT AND FEELING A FREQUENT PREDISPOSING CAUSE OF INSANITY."

Combe, in his valuable work on Mental Derangement, regards the brain as subject to the same general laws of exercise as the corporeal frame considered as a whole. For its healthful, vigorous state, it is dependent on regular, active exercise. If its organs are taxed too long and too severely, the energies of the powers called into exercise are exhausted, and permanent injury may be the consequence; if allowed to remain in indolent repose, the mind becomes enfeebled, and the brain itself, the instrument with which it acts, is constantly liable to active disease.

We give an extract which some of our readers may, perhaps, turn to practical account.

ease.

"The non-exercise of the brain and nervous system, or, in other words, inactivity of intellect and feeling, is a very frequent predisposing cause of insanity, and of every form of nervous disFor demonstrative evidence of this position, we have only to look at the numerous victims to be found among females of the middle and higher ranks, who have no call to exertion to gain the means of subsistence, and no objects of interest on which to exercise and expend their mental faculties, and who consequently sink into a state of mental sloth, and nervous weakness, which not only deprives them of every enjoyment, but lays them open to suffering both of mind and body, from the slightest causes.

If we look abroad upon society, we shall find innumerable examples of a mental and nervous debility from this cause. When a person of some mental capacity is confined for a length of time to an unvarying round of employment, which affords neither scope or stimulus for one half of his faculties, and from want of education or society has no external resources; his mental powers, for want of exercise, become blunted; his perceptions slow and dull, and he feels any unusual subjects of thought as disagreeable and painful intrusions. The intellect and feelings not being provided with interests external to themselves, must either become inactive and weak, or work upon themselves and become diseased. In the former case the mind becomes apathetic, and possesses no ground of sympathy in common with its fellow creatures; in the latter, it becomes unduly sensitive, and shrinks within itself and its own limited cir

cle, as its only protection against every trifling occurrence or mode of action which has not relation to itself. A desire to continue an unvaried round of life, takes strong possession of the mind, because to come forth into society requires an exertion of faculties, which have long been dormant, which cannot awaken without pain, and which are felt to be feeble when called into action. In such a state, home and its immediate interests become not only the centre, which they ought to be, but also the boundary of life; and the mind being originally constituted to embrace a much wider sphere, is thus shorn of its powers, deprived of numerous pleasures attending their exercise, the whole tone of mental and bodily health is lowered, and a total inaptitude for the business of life and the ordinary intercourse of society comes on, and often increases till it becomes a positive malady.

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But let the situation of such a person be changed; bring hin, for instance, from the listlessness of retirement to the business and bustle of town, give him a variety of imperative employments, and place him in society, so as to supply to his mental organs, that extent of exercise which gives them health and vivacity of action, and in a few months the change will be surprising. Health, animation and acuteness.

Examples of this kind are not rare among retired officers, annuitants, merchants and other persons living on certain incomes, without fixed occupations to interest them; and a curious instance occurred lately in a young military officer, who spent three years in Canada in command of a small detachment, in a remote station, where he was completely separated from all society of his own rank. During all that period he was obliged to pass his time in listless sauntering, shooting or fishing, without the excitement to his various faculties which is afforded by the society of equals. The consequence of this compulsory mental apathy, and the corresponding inactivity of the brain was, that on being relieved at the end of that time, his nervous system had become so weak and irritable, that, although by nature fond of society, he feared to meet even with the members of his own family, and for months would never venture to walk out for exercise except in the dark. And it was only at the end of several months that the renewed stimulus of society and employment, restored the tone of his nervous system so as to allow him to regain his natural character of mind, and to return to his usual habits of life. In this predisposed state of the system, a very slight cause would ob

viously have sufficed to convert the depression into absolute derangement.

But, as mentioned at first, the most frequent victims of this kind of predisposition are females of the middle and higher ranks, especially those of a nervous constitution, and good natural abilities; but who, from ill-directed education, possess nothing more solid than mere accomplishment, and have no materials of thought or feeling, and no regular or imperative occupations to demand attention, and whose brains, in short, are half asleep. Such persons have literally nothing on which to expend half the nervous energy which nature has bestowed on them for better purposes. They have nothing to excite or exercise the brain nothing to elicit activity; their own feelings and personal relations necessarily constitute the grand object of their contemplations: these are brooded over till the mental energies become impaired, false ideas of existence and of Providence spring up in the mind, the fancy is haunted by strange impressions, and every trifle which relates to self is exaggerated into an object of immense importance. The brain, having literally nothing on which to exercise itself, becomes weak, and the mental manifestations are enfeebled in proportion; so that a person of good endowments, thus treated, will often not only exhibit something of the imbecility of a fool, but gradually become irritable, peevish and discontented, and open to the attack of every kind of nervous disease and of derangement from causes which, under different circumstances, would never have disturbed them for a moment.

That the liability of such persons to melancholy, hysterics, hypochondriasis, and other varieties of mental disease, really depends on a state of irritability of brain, induced by imperfect exercise, is proved by the vast and rapid improvement we often witness from the sudden supervention of occurrences which excite and employ the mental powers and their cerebral organs. Nothing is more usual than to see a nervous young lady, who for years had been unfit for anything, while ease and indolence were her portion, derive the utmost advantage from apparent misfortunes which throw her upon her own resources and force her to exert her utmost energies to maintain a respectable station in society. Where, as in such circumstances, the mental faculties, and brain, the intellect and the moral and social feelings, are blessed with a stimulus to act; the weakness the tremors, and the apprehensions, which formerly seemed an inborn part of herself disappear, as if by enchantment, and strength, vigor, and happiness take their place, solely because now God's

law is fulfilled, and the brain with which He has connected the mind, is supplied with that healthful stimulus and exercise which He ordained to be in lispensable to its healthy existence, and to comfort and welfare."

THE FIRESIDE.

THE PEACH AND THE POCKET PIECE, OR TRUE AND FALSE

REPENTANCE.

It was a pleasant Sunday morning, and the number of Sabbath School scholars assembled in the vestry was rather larger than usual. After the prayer had been made and the hymn sung, the Superintendent told the scholars that he hoped they would be very attentive, while a gentleman from a neighboring school addressed them.

The gentleman then rose, and, after making a few remarks showing the difference between true and false repentance, told the following story, in order to illustrate the difference he had pointed out. I will try to repeat it, as nearly as I can, in his own words.

Sometime ago I paid a visit to a friend in the country, whom I had not seen for several years. I arrived at his house late in the evening, and was cordially welcomed by my friend and his family. He had two sons, both intelligent looking boys, but it was so late that I had little opportunity to converse with them, or to notice particularly their characters.

The next morning, I rose very

early, and being unwillng to disturb the family, I walked out into the garden. It was a delightful morning, and I could not look upon the scene before me without feeling forcibly the presence and the goodness of God. As I was thus meditating I heard some one approaching very cautiously, and, looking around, I saw Charles the oldest of my friend's two sons. The path in which he was walking was separated from the one in which I was, by a few trees and shrubs, so that he did not observe me; he looked around him at every step, and started at every noise, and was so evidently about some mischief, that I stopped to notice him. He paused under a peach tree, upon which were hanging two very fine peaches here he again looked around him to see if any body was near, and then, with a guilty look and a trembling hand, he picked one of the peaches and devoured it as quickly as possible. He then turned to go away, but after once tasting the fruit, the other peach looked too tempting to be relinquished, and he returned and took that also, and then hurried away. At breakfast, I noticed him particularly, but I saw no signs

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